Grifols entrusts China with its only operation to reduce debt
The CEO of Grifols, Thomas Glanzmann, expressed his confidence on Thursday in the success of the sale of part of its business in China and assured that the company is not contemplating any other operation to achieve its financial objectives for 2024.
During a conference with analysts, Glanzmann insisted that the pharmaceutical company expects to be able to announce the agreement to divest its stake in Shanghai Raas before the end of the year and close the transaction in the first part of 2024, after admitting the regulatory complexity of the operation.
The chief executive of Grifols has ruled out that the company has any other operation in its sights: “We are very focused on the transaction in China, one hundred percent. And we are not looking at anything else,” he said.
Grifols forecasts that the sale in China could bring in 1.4 billion euros
The complexity of Chinese regulations is delaying the closing of the transaction, acknowledged Glanzmann, who pointed out that in this country these movements take much longer than in Europe or the United States.
In spite of this, he assured that the operation has aroused “a lot of interest” in the market because it is “an extremely attractive asset”.
It has also stated that the sale of Shanghai Raas, for which it expected to raise around 1.4 billion euros, will be sufficient, together with the business performance, to achieve its 2024 financial targets.
The proceeds from the transaction will be used entirely to reduce the company’s debt.
The multinational, which today presented its results up to September, maintains the objective of closing next year with a debt of 4 times ebitda (operating profit).
At the same time, the news of the sale of Grifols to China has boosted the share price of this pharmaceutical company listed on the Ibex 35, which rose more than 10% at the start of the trading session.